Summer break is great. For me, heading home for the summer means: no more historic winter storms, no stress for Final Exams (unless you take a summer class), and a short time off from running/more time on for surfing.
This summer I’m focused on my internship and this blog. A lot of people use this
extra time to do the same and they get work done.
- They’ll take a summer class to get ahead on credits
- Go back to a part time job they had in high school to load up on cash
- Focus on an internship/volunteer
After you spend the school year away from family and hardly ever having time to go home for a weekend, you’ll be thankful for the time to decompress.
Here’s what else you’ll notice when you first go home for the summer.
1. You’ll have a tighter social circle.
It won’t be like High School where all of your friends were close to each other ready to hangout. People may choose to stay on campus for the summer, some people will be tied up with their hours at work, friends may even drift apart. When you visit home, you’ll find out which of your friends truly want to spend time with you.
2. You’ll appreciate family time more.
When you’re away from home, you might run into weekends or holidays where things don’t work out and you can’t go home. Summer break will give you that cushion of time you need to be with family. Since you now know what it’s like to be away from there for so long, you’ll appreciate being with them.
3. Your hometown is really quiet
When I first went home for summer, I had trouble sleeping because it was way too quiet. I wasn’t used to the lack of chaos. In college theres always something to do, theres people talking all night in the dorm hallway and there are spontaneous invites to go explore the city. At NYU, I hear sirens go off and crowds/tourists wandering around while I sleep. I got used to it, and when I’m home it’s way too quiet for me. Back home, a night out means going out to a restaurant or watching a movie.
4. You’ll want to get stuff done
College has a very uptempo pace and you’ll have to use your time wisely just to get everything done. Summer break will give you more time to relax, but you’ll be so used to college that you’ll want to do something from staying bored! I took a class and worked a part time job my first summer home. It was a lot of work but it kept me busy and I prepared for the fall.
5. You’ll act like a tourist for a short time
If you had fun and made good memories your first year, college became more of a second home for you. In this case, when you first visit home you’ll want to get a lot of traveling done. College opened you up to a host of new experiences, and you’ll unsurprisingly want to do the same when you go home. This is strange considering how you grew up here, but after being away from it all for a long time, you’ll feel like a tourist.
6. You’ve changed
Even if you don’t see it yourself, there’ll be tiny instances where people may point out something new about you. It doesn’t have to be some mind-blowing soul fulfilling enlightenment. It could be a new habit you’ve picked up, or something simple like losing a tan. For me, I was always late in high school to everything. Since college taught me how to live and manage my time on my own (and deal with the consequences on my own) I learned how to manage my time better. I helped out around the house more and was careful with my free time. I was used to being away from video games so I didn’t need to play it all the time.
7. High School seems like middle school
You know that feeling you had when you were a junior in High School and you saw all of the middle schoolers? This is how you’ll feel when you come back home from college. Some colleges get out of school before high school does; you’ll drive past all the young’ns getting ready for school while you’re enjoying your time off. You might even look back and think that high school was forever ago…even if it was just last year.
J